Now there is an altar worth worshipping at.



I have wonderful memories of the little pork pies that my mother used to buy from a little baker's called Cakebread in Mossley – she'd served them heated through with baked beans for tea. Mmmmm.

Although a good pork pie – artisanal Melton Mowbray, for instance – can still be a thing of great pleasure when eaten colds. With good pickles and bread, as a sort of ploughman's.

Call me basic bit I enjoy a nice dollop of tommy sauce with my butchers baked pork pie.

My apprenticeship as a surveyor was served in a first floor office above a sandwich shop, a 1970s office where everyone smoke and everyone drank coffee ALL DAY long, the guy I worked with would bawl me out if his coffee cup was empty.

My most important job of the day was at 10am, make another pot of coffee and then nip out of the fire escape door, down the metal escape ladder to the sandwich shop where they took delivery of a couple of dozen pork pies at 10 on the dot every day from the butchers across the road, sometimes those pies were too hot to carry.

I can't tell you how many building plans were totally ruined by some idiot (me) biting into a red hot growler and spilling liquid gelatine and fat all over the desk

I have worshipped them, hot or cold, ever since.


My christmas effort from the Paul Hollywood baking cook book seem simple enough, pork loin, bacon, onion and a gelatine leaf - I suspect that its the seasoning that counts to whether its just a meat pie made with pork, or a pork pie.

Mini Yorkshire puddings filled with beef and gravy are very much in vogue at the moment. If that's the replacement for vol au vents then I'm all for it.

I attended SalonQP in November and to my surprise and huge delight, pigs in blankets were being served. Well being rather partial to them and not having sampled their delights for the best part of eleven months. I to put it kindly, went to town on them. So much so that one of the servers brought me out a plater all of my own. That's the beauty of attending an event predominately attended by pretentious s, their too busy being pompous and showy to get chatty with the servers.

Good point, well made.

I like Vol au vents.

Love mushroom vol-au-vents.

Got to be Colmans English Mustard with cold pork pies.

Talking about mustard flavour.
I had some fun handing out some Wasabi coated peas the other night.
Some people weren't amused.